


Won't Be Kept Down For Long

by StardustAndAsh (orphan_account)



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: Alive Tadashi, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-26
Updated: 2015-03-08
Packaged: 2018-02-27 02:11:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 17,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2675039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/StardustAndAsh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tadashi never made it through the door before the explosion, and is still alive and breathing, though not whole and healthy. Hiro still creates Big Hero 6 after finding out his microbots were stolen, and film events still play out, though with a twist.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. After the Explosion

Cold and sterile. A hospital always lies. Nurses smile and claim things will be fine as someone dies in the next “room”, sectioned off by a thin pale curtain. It’s too bright, a place full of death and grief shouldn’t be so clean, so white, so bright even as the moon flies overhead, as bright white and untouchable as the hospital itself. People come and go from the waiting room, following strangers beyond the doors with hope in their eyes. Sometimes they come back with hopes dashed and tears rolling down their cheeks. Some don’t come back at all.

Hiro hoped Aunt Cass wouln’t be crying when she came back.

Tadashi was somewhere in that beyond. Somewhere alive, or dead. Schrodinger’s Tadashi. Tadashi was a cat last Halloween.

Hiro shook his head. A cat? Really? Maybe they messed up and his minor concussion was actually fairly serious. His head did hurt, as did his elbow where he landed on it, but nothing compared to the ache that was Tadashi. His brother had just been about to enter those doors when The exposition hall exploded, blowing the two of them back. Hiro had landed on his elbow and then slammed his head on the pavement. Tadashi had been thrown down the steps and burned by the flames.

Hiro didn’t want to think about Professor Callaghan.

It was his dream to study robotics under Robert Callaghan, and that went up in smoke. Literally. Hiro snorted, then felt sick. A man was dead. Tadashi could be dying. Why wasn’t Aunt Cass coming back.

Hiro suddenly felt very small and very alone in the cold waiting room. He still wore the smoke-smelling clothes from the explosion and soot greyed his black hair. The hard plastic chair dug into his back and his bottom. GoGo, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, and Fred had all left already, though unwilling. Wasabi needed to take GoGo and Honey home after the two fell asleep on each other, though GoGo refused until Aunt Cass urged her to go and promised to call as soon as there was news. Fred had left soon after hanging up his cell from a mysterious call. Hiro wished they had stayed as the emptiness swallowed him.

There was a woman across from him who kept crying, a small girl next to her kept asking where her daddy was with a tiny, scared voice. Her mother just cried harder, pressing the heel of her hand into her eye. Hiro looked up at the speckled ceiling instead. Where was Aunt Cass. He just wanted to go home with his brother and lie down and not think anymore. His head gave a particularly painful throb and he squeezed his eyes shut, hands buried in his fluffy black hair and curling up in the uncomfortable chair and wished for this nightmare of a day to be over.

It had been going so well, he’d finally presented his microbots to Robert Callaghan. _Robert Callaghan_. And he had been impressed with him! He was living the dream. Tadashi was proud, Aunt Cass was making a feast to celebrate, and he was going to study under the greatest robotics inventor this side of anywhere. But then the exposition hall caught fire, his dreams blown apart, and his brother fighting for his life somewhere in the hospital.

“Hiro, honey, can you open your eyes for me?” Aunt Cass quietly said into Hiro’s ear, a warm hand gripping his shoulder. Hiro wondered when she had come back.

Hiro blinked and looked up at Aunt Cass, but couldn’t see any fresh tears rolling down her face, no telltale wobbling of her lower lip. Tadashi wasn’t dead!

“How’s Tadashi? Is he ok?” Hiro was upright faster than Megabot could reassemble and regretted it as another throb pulsed through his skull.

Aunt Cass looked away then and Hiro felt his stomach drop.

“Hiro, Tadashi was hurt pretty badly,” Aunt Cass began.

“And the doctors patched him up and Baymax will take care of him at home for a while, right? Can we go get him now? He’s just signing some papers, right?” Hiro desperately hoped he was right.

“Hiro, Tadashi isn’t coming home with us tonight. Tadashi is in a coma, but the doctors are hopeful,” she said quickly as Hiro’s face dropped as quickly as his heart, “we can go see him, but only for a little while, you need rest too.”

Aunt Cass gently steered Hiro out of the waiting room and through the mystery doors. Behind them a nurse approached the mother and daughter. They screamed and cried as the door swung shut.

The hallways were a putrid puke green colour. They passed rooms and rooms of patients and equipment, but Hiro had no idea how he had gotten to the foot of Tadashi’s bed. His big brother, his nii-chan was hooked up to monitors and an IV hung eerily, like a long thin snake biting into Tadashi’s wrist. A soft slow beeping filled the silence, reminding Hiro his nii-chan was still alive. Where there’s life, there’s hope, right? Hiro wanted to believe that more now than anything. Tadashi’s left side sported bandages, including up his neck and on his face, covering his eye. A nasal cannula was nearly lost among the bandages.

“They said the scarring wouldn’t be too bad,” Aunt Cass said, again in a quiet voice. Like she didn’t want to wake Tadashi, even though Hiro doubted anything would wake his brother up right now. “But they did say something about his eye.”

Hiro slowly moved around the bed, making his way to his nii-chan. He gently held Tadashi’s unbandaged hand with both of his own. He couldn’t help the sniffle, it burst out of him, and it opened the floodgates. All of the emotions he had been holding back burst out of him as he felt his brother’s warm hand between his own. Fat, salty tears rolled down Hiro’s cheeks as he wailed. He clung to Tadashi like a lifeline. He was alive. Gloriously alive and breathing, if not whole and healthy. It was more than Hiro had hoped for an hour ago.

Hiro hiccupped as his crying stopped, unaware of when he had sat down in another uncomfortable chair or when Aunt Cass began rubbing soothing circles in his back.

“Shh, he’ll be fine. He’s a strong boy, you both are. And no boy of mine is going to be kept down for long,” murmured Aunt Cass, making Hiro smile.

Hiro yawned, emotionally and physically exhausted, but he didn’t want to let go of his brother’s hand. Now that most of his worry had dissipated all his hurts ached. His elbow pulsed with pain and his head was making him dizzy. Hiro listed to the side before Aunt Cass caught him and propped him upright.

“I think we should get going home. Mochi is probably dying of hunger, and you need to get to bed.”

Aunt Cass helped him out of the chair and back down the hall, and if she carried him more than led him, Hiro wasn’t going to tell.


	2. Your Personal Healthcare Companion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I've finished an essay and an entire media project in the last 3 days. Go me. Since I've been not sleeping anyways I decided to write this for you and publish it before I even re read it. Apologies.

The slight chill of autumn couldn’t touch Hiro. The green leaves of summer shivered on their branches, some falling eagerly as September rolled in. Outside the neighbourhood kids would laugh and play on their way home from school, their parents would sit in the café for coffee and talk about nothing. The world was still alive, but not for him.

  
Tadashi was still in the hospital, weeks later, and showed no sign of regaining consciousness. The materials and projects in his lab had been delivered, though reluctantly, by Wasabi and Fred a few days ago. Hiro had hid himself away from his brother’s friends. He didn’t want to see their faces, didn’t want to see the sadness in their eyes as they tried to smile for him. Hiro just wanted his brother back. The doctors were less hopeful now, even though they had been so encouraging at the start.

  
At first, they would greet Hiro with smiles and tell him that Tadashi would be fine. Hiro visited every day for as long as he could in that first week. Then they had stopped being so hopeful. Their smiles disappeared and they looked at Hiro with pity. Aunt Cass adopted the look as well. Hiro could tell that she wanted this period of waiting to be over, regardless the outcome. Eventually, Hiro stopped going to the hospital. Honey Lemon had been making eye patches for when Tadashi woke up. There was one with a heart, one striped grey and yellow, and one white one that had a pattern similar to Baymax’s face. The stupid eye patches were hung up on every surface and Hiro couldn’t stand the sight anymore. Hiro had also stopped eating, and only spoke when spoken to. Had he moved out of his beanbag chair in a while? Hiro couldn’t remember the last time he moved. Had he had a shower recently? Who cared?

  
“Hiro?” Aunt Cass’ soft voice called from the foot of the stairs, “I’ve got some lunch for you, Honey.”

  
Hiro watched as his Aunt’s head appeared through the railing. She held a plate of leftover steak and some greens. It smelled delicious and nauseating at the same time. Hiro watched her as she replaced the cold breakfast dish with this one, noticing that she wouldn’t look at him.

  
“You’ll never guess what one of the customers is wearing down there. Really, an eighty-year-old should not show so much skin,” she chuckled halfheartedly. “You know, the university called again. They said it’s not to late to register yourself in classes.”

  
“Ok, thanks Aunt Cass.”

  
Hiro wouldn’t step foot into that school without Tadashi by his side. He knew that from day one, and it wouldn’t change just because his nii-chan might not wake up. He could just go back to bot fighting. Really, it wasn’t like there was anything left for him at the university. His dream of studying under Robert Callaghan was gone, Tadashi was slowly dying, and the gang? They were Tadashi’s friends, not his, however much they might put up with him.  
If he was going to start bot fighting again he’d have to tweak Megabot again. Who knows what might be out there now, he’d been out of the game for so long. For the first time in a long time Hiro found it in himself to move, walking over to Megabot and picking up his little robot. Hmm, what could he do for improvements? Hiro tilted the robot to look from a different angle, as Tadashi was always telling him. Always told him. Should Hiro be thinking about his brother in the past tense even though he was still breathing?

  
As his concentration lapsed Megabot’s bottom section disengaged and the surprisingly heavy bot part dropped right on Hiro’s foot.

  
“Ow!” Hiro hopped on the spot, holding his foot up to see the damage.

  
From the other side of the room a beep, then a soft whirring sound echoed. Hiro stared as Baymax, his brother’s pride and joy inflated quickly, then made his awkward way around the bed and to Hiro.

  
“Hello. I am Baymax, your personal healthcare companion,” the robot gave a small awkward wave.

  
“Baymax, I didn’t know you were still… active.”

  
“I heard a sound of distress. On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?” The robot questioned.

  
“Oh, I just stubbed my toe a little. It’s fine. You can deactivate now.”

  
“Does it hurt when I touch it?” The robot, which Hiro would now swear was crazy leaned forward and held out one stubby finger, trying to poke at Hiro’s foot. Hiro backed away, but tripped over the same part of Megabot that had started this whole incident. He went tumbling over backwards, ending up cramped between the desk and his bed.

  
“You have fallen.”

  
“Yep, and still fine.”

  
Hiro reached out to grab the edge of the desk to pull himself up, but overestimated and grabbed the shelf full of his bot figurines instead, causing the shelf to break and the toys to start falling one by one into his head and stomach.

  
“Ow!”

  
“On a scale of one to-“

  
“Ow!”

  
“On a sca-“

  
“Ow!”

  
“On a scale of one to-“

  
“Ugh!” His biggest bot had landed right in the middle of his stomach.

  
“On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain.”

  
“A zero. I’m fine.”

  
Suddenly balloon arms surrounded him and pulled him upright, then more than upright and Hiro came to the realization that he was being carried by his brother’s crazy robotics project.

  
“It is alright to cry. There. There,” said Baymax, patting him on the head.

  
“No, Baymax, I’m not crying.”

  
Hiro wiggled his way out of Baymax’s arms.

  
“I will scan you for injuries.”

  
“Don’t scan me.”

  
“Scan complete.”

  
“Unbelievable!” Hiro threw up his hands.

  
Unconcerned by Hiro’s attitude, Baymax continued as his programming dictated.

“My scans show that you are experiencing mood swings. Diagnosis: Puberty.”

  
“Whoah, what?” If Tadashi ever woke up Hiro would be having words with him about Baymax’s coding.

  
Baymax began listing the changes puberty was sure to wreak on his fourteen-year-old body like a high school health teacher: no shame whatsoever when talking about pubic hair and boners. God Tadashi needed to recode this balloon.

  
“Ok! You need to turn off now,” Hiro said as he began trying to wrestle Baymax back into his charging station.

  
“I cannot deactivate until you say you are satisfied with your care.”

  
“Well, then I’m satisfied with my-“ Hiro’s efforts to shove Baymax back into his charging station failed miserably, with Baymax and his boxy charger shooting off one way into the wall and Hiro belly-flopping onto the floor. At least this time he didn’t say ow.

  
Hiro was about to repeat Baymax’s deactivation code, but a small noise brought his attention under the bed. A soft buzzing. Hiro peeked under the bed to see a lump of fabric moving. Curious he reached out his arm and fumbled around, finding the pocked and reaching in. Hiro pulled out his hand to find one of his microbots. Probably the only survivor of the exhibition hall fire. It weighed more heavily in his hand than the Earth itself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a note saying that it was awkward to have Hiro using nii-chan. However, I have two responses to that: one being I read that in comic canon Hiro uses it (unconfirmed by me as of yet), and two, it's part of my headcanon that both of the boys learned english and japanese from their parents, but after they died they no longer had any reason to use it. Tadashi studied it in school and can still speak it, but Hiro, having learned only a little at 3 years of age, only retains a few basic words and phrases, one of which is using nii-chan to refer to his big bro. I'll probably try and fit it into the story somewhere, but for now that's me explaining myself.


	3. Discovery

Hiro couldn’t breathe. His chest felt tight, any breath he took seemed to catch in his chest and his throat wasn’t big enough for air anymore and his lungs were shrinking and oh god his microbot. His microbot. Tadashi had made Krei give it back. It smelled like smoke and suddenly the fire was everywhere, Tadashi’s retreating back disappearing into red and orange.

“Hiro, your stress levels are elevated and you appear to be experiencing a panic attack. When experiencing panic attacks it is best to take deep calming breaths. “

Baymax approached Hiro, squeaking and waddling. He positioned himself in front of Hiro, placed one pudgy hand on Hiro’s shoulder, and began to glow in soft pulses.

“When experiencing panic attacks physical contact keeps you grounded in reality, and having a pattern to match your breathing to is idea. Please breathe with the light, Hiro,” said Baymax.

Hiro felt himself pulled away from the flames and back into his bedroom. The big puffy robot in front of him was peering at him closely, head tilted to one side. 

“Are you feeling better now? My scans indicate your stress levels are decreasing.”

“Yeah. Thanks, Baymax,” Hiro sniffed and wiped his damp eyes. 

The microbot in his hand wiggled again and Hiro grabbed a petri dish and shut it in there before it went flying out the window. Or through it, as the windows were shut up tight. He put the cursed thing on his desk, not sure what he was going to do with it. Would it be better to destroy it, or to recreate his project? This one was busted, but he still had materials and his notes in the garage. Would Tadashi want him to give up on it, move on to something new? He didn’t want to move on. 

These thoughts were flying through his head as Hiro collected the bits of Megabot on the floor, reattaching them to his robot and placing it back in its spot on the desk.

“Your tiny robot wants to go somewhere.”

Hiro wasn’t really listening, he was still debating recreating his microbots. He didn’t know if he could do it. Being faced with one sent him into a panic, what would making one do? He’d been riding the high of showing them off when his world came crashing down. 

“Would finding where the tiny robot wants to go help your stress levels and decrease your mood swings?”

Baymax was asking a question but Hiro didn’t hear the words, just assumed the robot was asking if he wanted a lollipop for being a good patient.  
“Yeah, sure.”

Hiro needed to get his head on straight. He wished Tadashi was there to give him advice, show him another angle. Of course, if Tadashi was there this whole inner conversation would be moot and they’d both be doing homework.

SCREECH!

The sound of tires made Hiro jump to look out the window. Their street was usually pretty quiet, what could possibly be happening out the window?  
Hiro looked down to see a truck and two cars swerved around the intersection and right in the middle…

“Baymax!” 

Tadashi’s prized robot was walking in the middle of the street, no concern at all about the giant metal vehicles that could snap his thin metal structure. 

Tadashi obviously hadn’t programmed the thing for self-preservation. What would he do if he lost Baymax? How could he tell his nii-chan that he managed to get his pride and joy hit by a car? Heart pumping and breath quickening, Hiro grabbed the hoodie off the back of his desk chair and took off down the stairs. 

Aunt Cass was puttering around the café, clearing mugs and dishes and answering patron’s questions about where her “two cute boys” were and receiving condolences from them after they got the story. It was breaking her heart to have to repeat over and over, “Tadashi, the older one, is in the hospital. Yes, the SFIT accident. No, Hiro is too upset over it. No, they can’t tell if he’ll wake up yet”. Mochi and baking were her only comforts, and thankfully the additions to the shelves in the morning were a hit. She wasn’t sure if the matcha shortbread cookies were going to work or not, but she’d sold out by two. The thundering on the stairs broke the quiet atmosphere of the café and Cass could hardly believe it when Hiro came hurtling down the stairs. He was making a beeline for the door but no way was she going to let her little man out without a hug or three.

“Hiro, y-you’re up,” Aunt Cass stuttered when she spoke. She hadn’t meant to, but it was there.

“I figured it was time,” said Hiro, dancing in place as Baymax got further away and potentially into trouble somewhere out of sight. “Gotta get moving on the university thing if I want to go this semester.”

“Oh, okay,” said Aunt Cass, still not moving out of the way.

“Yeah, what you said? Kinda motivating. After all, I gotta make Tadashi proud when he wakes up and finds I’ve already caught up to him.”  
Aunt Cass forced a giggle, “I’m sure he’ll be happy.”

She leaned in and gave him a big hug. “I’m so proud of my little college man.”

Hiro hesitated, even with Baymax running amok somewhere in the city this was a moment he didn’t want to break. He felt guilty lying about this to his Aunt. Tadashi would be so disappointed in him. Then Aunt Cass released him and it was over. He hurried to the door yanked it open, then was trapped again in Cass’ arms. 

“Last hug,” she said quietly. He returned it. 

Then he was out the door and running down the street, using the same amount of self-preservation as Baymax as he weaved through cars and people.   
Hiro was glad that he quickly caught sight of Baymax as the giant robotic balloon made his way down the street. Even with Hiro running he couldn’t seem to catch up. The universe was against him as he was cut off by crowds, and cyclists, and cars that wouldn’t stop for a crazy fourteen year old. Once, briefly, he had lost sight of Baymax, only for him to turn around and see the robot riding the cable car. Hiro groaned and sprinted after it. He hadn’t had this much exercise ever and was feeling the burn of sprinting around the city in his legs and lungs. Who decided the city needed so many hills?

When he caught up with the cable car Baymax was no longer on it. He turned quickly, scanning for where Baymax might’ve gone –Aha! There! A set of stairs led up into a pedestrian market and across the plaza was Baymax waddling away. Hiro was so close. He ran to catch up, but a stream of shoppers laden with colourful bags cut him off. Hiro tore at his hair in frustration as he danced on the spot. After only a few seconds deliberation he pushed his way through and dashed off after his nii-chan’s robot.

He almost didn’t see Baymax as he waddled down an alley, causing him to skid as he tried to turn. Hiro slid along the ground, upsetting some garbage cans and a sleeping cat, but disregarded his skinned palms and knees to go after Baymax once again. He finally caught up to the robot, who had thankfully stopped moving. 

“What,” wheeze, “were,” wheeze, “you,” wheeze, “thinking?” Hiro coughed as he tried to regain control of his breathing. 

“I have found where your tiny robot wants to go.”

“What? Baymaz it’s probably broken,” said Hiro, taking the petri dish. It unnerved him, but at least it didn’t smell like smoke. 

Inside the petri dish the microbot wriggled against the curve of the container. Hiro turned and sighed. The microbot changed where it wriggled against, straining to go back in its original direction. Hiro tested it to be sure, but no doubt about it, the microbot was being called here. Hiro looked up and a sense of dread overcame him. The microbot just had to want to come to the creepiest abandoned-looking warehouse in San Fransokyo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uhm, what if I told you my plan for this chapter was to finish after the whole warehouse ordeal? Yeah, my writing got away from me.  
> Also, the panic attack in the beginning is something I really wanted to include, as I wanted Hiro to be more deeply affected by the fire than he might have known. The reaction is based off of my own panic attacks, and since I don't see Hiro having a stuffed Eeyore around to cuddle, having Baymax to be his calm-down-companion is best I could come up with. PLEASE NOTE THAT IT IS NOT ALWAYS OK FOR YOU TO TOUCH SOMEONE HAVING A PANIC ATTACK, IF YOU'RE NOT SURE, DON'T TOUCH!  
> Final note - I have no memory of what Aunt Cass said to Hiro as he was trying to run after Baymax in the movie, so I hope this is good/close enough.


	4. The Kabuki Mask

The warehouse was falling apart. Paint peeled from the sheeting that made up the outer walls, the windows, high and near the sloped roof, were shattered and yellowed with age. The lock in front of him looked new though, standing out against the neglected building. Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Hiro picked up the lock and pulled with all his weight –admittedly not much.

“There is a window there,” Baymax pointed upwards to a window hovering a few feet above a dumpster.

It took a few tries to get the puffy robot onto the dumpster, Baymax’s coordination and body were hindering his ability to move. He definitely needed to upgrade that. After he finally, _finally_ got Baymax onto the dumpster it took another few minutes to convince him that Hiro would be fine if he used the robot like a ladder.

“A fall from this height could cause injury,” chastised Baymax as Hiro pulled himself through the small window.

Hiro was so very glad to see that the inside of the warehouse was just as creepy as the outside. Cobwebs and chains hung from the ceiling, the latter creaking softly and ominously. Hiro’s every instinct was telling him to turn the heck around and get out of there. Then a sound like a plunger broke the silence, making Hiro flinch. He turned, expecting, well, he didn’t know what he was expecting, but Baymax stuck in the window wasn’t on the list.

“I will let out some air,” said the robot, and proceeded to do exactly that, sounding like a balloon with it’s mouth held open: very noisy and attention getting.

Hiro hardly dared to breathe, standing frozen as if whatever might hear the racket Baymax was making might not be able to see him if he didn’t move.  At last, Baymax finished deflating and Hiro dragged him the rest of the way through the window. Baymax lay on the ground, stating cheerfully that he would need a few minutes to reinflate, which was thankfully much quieter than his deflating process.

Hiro pulled the microbot out of his pocket, following his robot much like Baymax had done. The bot seemed to be pulling him downwards, and Hiro quickly located the nearest set of stairs, down a catwalk to his left. Again he wondered why a warehouse should look so creepy as he ducked under a double cable of chains. The ground floor was just as terrifying as the catwalks above, dust lying thickly on the floor and creepy looking machinery ominous in the half-dark. An odd whirring sound was coming from the direction the microbot wanted to go. White plastic sheeting sealed off an area far side of the warehouse where the whirring was coming from. Hiro pressed his face against it, curious, but he could only make out a few curious machines revolving on the spot as they created something to small to be made out through the sheeting. Hiro followed as a robot placed whatever it was onto a conveyor belt, and then followed it to the side, and to the end of the plastic sheeting where it revealed…

“My microbots!”

They were all being dropped from the belt into a large garbage bin. But why? All his bots but the one in the petri dish had been destroyed in the fire. How had someone got the designs, or been able to reproduce them for that matter?

“Hiro?” Baymax’s voice made him jump out of his thoughts.

“Baymax!” Hiro definitely did not scream, “you gave me a heart attack!”

“My hands are equipped with defibrillators,” said Baymax rubbing his hands together, “clear!”

Oh my god, Tadashi definitely needed to sort out Baymax’s coding if the robot was going to shock him without making sure that his heart was, in fact, not about to hammer right out of his chest.

“It’s just an expression, Baymax,” said Hiro, backing away slowly.

Baymax put his hands down, and Hiro turned back to the strange microbot production assembly. Beyond the first garbage bin was a whole field of bins, same size and make, all appearing to contain microbots. There were way more than he had originally made, there were at least fifty bins in front of him fading into the blackness of the unlit warehouse.

“Oh no,” said Baymax.

Hiro agreed for once with the robot as microbots began to move, surging upwards in a tidal force out of their containers.

“Baymax, run!”

Hiro took off, but soon turned around as he realized Baymax was no longer with him. The robot was slowly waddling after him, just a few scant feet before a tidal wave of microbots.

“I am not fast.”

“Yeah, no kidding!”

Hiro took ahold of one of Baymax’s arms, dragging the robot into moving faster before pushing him through a narrow corridor between two obsolete pieces of equipment. The robot barely fit but there Hiro pushed him through. At the end of the short hall was a door and Hiro slammed it. Success!

The moment was short lived as a second later microbots burst it off its hinges and sent the door flying. Hiro grabbed Baymax once again, heading for the big warehouse door. Hiro nearly ran into it in his haste and bounced on his feet.

“Break it down!” he directed Baymax, pointing at the door.

Baymax gave it a feeble punch. Tadashi had said the robot could lift one thousand pounds, how the hell could the robot not punch a door with that strength?

“Kick it!”

Baymax just tapped it with one stubby leg.

“Baymax!” Hiro cried in frustration and fear, dragging the robot out of the way of a stream of microbots that exploded against the door before following them up a set of stairs. The microbots were gaining, then caught them, flipping them up and sending Hiro sprawling onto the grated catwalk. The spiked grate dug into his face as Baymax landed in top of him.

No time to think about it, Hiro pulled himself and Baymax to their feet and sprinted off down the catwalk towards the window they had come in through. Hiro glanced over his shoulder to see how far behind the microbots were and saw a rather peculiar thing. There was a figure standing in the middle of the onslaught of tiny robots, wearing a trenchcoat and a kabuki theater mask. Like that didn’t scream evil villain like something out of one of Fred’s comics.

Hiro tried to push Baymax out of the window first, but as the robot had reinflated he once again became stuck. Hiro’s heart was going to burst at any moment, either that or the robots would get them. He designed those robots, he knew exactly how they could be used to injure or kill or torture them. The only limit was the imagination of the masked man. With one last shove that had all Hiro’s weight behind it both he and the robot were sent spinning around dizzingly, then they were falling. What’s that Baymax said about a fall from this height?

Hiro closed his eyes, prepared to break at least a few bones when white squishy arms enveloped him and suddenly he was bouncing off a squishy surface before rolling onto his butt. He sat there for a moment, stunned at Baymax’s sudden heroics, before grabbing the robot’s arms and dragging him away from the warehouse of doom.

What would Tadashi do in a situation like this? He continued dragging Baymax down the street ignoring the stares of passersby. Tadashi would probably go to the police. Would that even work? Hello officer, I’d like to report a man in a kabuki mask stole my design for a teeny robot and then he tried to kill me and my robot. Like that would work.

Actually, now that Hiro thought about it, Baymax had cameras. He was constantly recording his surroundings. Hiro could use it to show the police he wasn’t crazy.

But the policeman obviously thought he was a lunatic, even if he could produce evidence. Baymax once again hindered rather than helped, first by interrupting the conversation to patch holes in his vinyl and then by running on low battery.

“I’m h-h-healthcare, your Baymax companion,” the robot slurred, movements becoming sluggish and uncoordinated.

Hiro stared in surprise. Not even a low battery warning before Baymax turned into this… this intoxicated-like state, emulating Tadashi after he came home from a night out with Fred at the pub. Figuring that Baymax would not be of any help now, and that his low-battery state was making Hiro’s story seem even less plausible to the tired-looking officer behind the desk he figured he’d just book it before they called Aunt Cass to pick him up.

Outside Baymax swayed and wobbled, falling on his inflated butt before raising a finger and happily declaring: “Healthcare!”

Hiro facepalmed. It was even more of an adventure getting Baymax on a cable car back up to The Lucky Cat Café with people staring and taking pictures of the tiny kid trying to carry a seven foot slightly deflated balloon robot.

Upon entering the house attached to the café Hiro put a finger to his lips hoping the robot knew the visual cue.

“Aunt Cass can _not_ know about what we did today.”

Drunk Baymax did not understand the message.

“We jumped out a window!” He cried, his voice going high and squeaky with his low battery.

“Shh!” Hiro began up the stairs, ignoring the robot repeating him.

Aunt Cass was puttering around the kitchen, the table laden with Hiro’s favourite foods, obviously as a celebration for him finally going to university. If only he had. Guilt ate at Hiro’s stomach, any hunger he had disappearing.

“There’s my little college man,” Aunt Cass cooed into a mixing bowl, “I made hot wings, the kind that melt your face off.”

Baymax thought this would be a great time to pipe in.

“Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!” He screeched up the stairs.

Thankfully Aunt Cass assumed it was Hiro as she had her back to him.

“Yeah, wiiiiings!” she said, gesturing with the whisk.

“Acutally, Aunt Cass, I’m really beat, you know how first days go. I’m just going to go put some stuff in my room then come grab a plate.”

Hiro quickly pulled Baymax up the stairs and into his and Tadashi’s room before Aunt Cass could see the robot.

Getting Baymax into the charging station was another struggle, as he kept putting his little round feet directly next to the station rather than in it. After too many attempts Hiro just grabbed Baymax’s foot and placed it in himself. Once the robot took a few seconds to connect to the electricity he dropped the intoxicated demeanor. Hiro flopped into his desk chair in relief. Baymax was back to normal and Tadashi wouldn’t kill him when he woke up for breaking his prized robot, if he woke up.

“Tadashi,” said Baymax.

Hiro looked up at the robot. Baymax was staring into Tadashi’s half of the room, untouched since the accident and slowly gathering dust.

“Tadashi?” this time it was a question.

“Tadashi’s not here Baymax, he’s in the hospital.”

“But Tadashi was in perfect heath, with a proper diet and exercise there is be no reason Tadashi should be in the hospital.”

“Yeah, but there was a fire,” said Hiro, his eyes beginning to water.

Baymax placed a hand on one of Hiro’s computers, a series of images flashing across the screen and Baymax’s stomach screen.

“I have downloaded a database on personal loss.”

“What? No, Tadashi isn’t gone, I haven’t lost anyone!” a lie, his parents were gone, but that hardly bothered him. What bothered him was his nii-chan’s robot automatically assuming Tadashi was either dead or going to die.

“Treatments include physical contact and reassurance,” Baymax prattled on, seizing Hiro and nearly smothering the small boy in his puffy arms. “There, there.”

“It’s alright Baymax, I’m fine.”

Hiro was about to tell him to go back into his station and deactivate, but then it hit him, Baymax was a nursing bot, made by his genius nii-chan. He bet that Baymax could tell if Tadashi would wake up, if he was going to get better.

He seized Baymax by the arm, once again dragging around the robot, and dashed down the stairs. He pushed Baymax down the second set of stairs before shouting at Aunt Cass about needing to visit Tadashi.

The hospital was quiet, unsurprisingly. It was around the time most normal families were having dinner and as such the halls were quiet aside from nurses and doctors. Hiro hesitated outside Tadashi’s ward. His brother wasn’t in the ICU any longer, but Hiro still felt when he walked in Tadashi would be just as burned and close to death as the night of the explosion.

“My scans indicate that your heart rate has risen. Would you like me to call your loved ones for support?” asked Baymax.

“No, it’s ok. I’m just a little nervous.”

With a deep breath he stepped inside the ward, tiptoeing his way to Tadashi’s bed. Behind him Baymax followed, quietly squeaking as he moved.

Tadashi was looking a lot better, the bandages had been removed from his face and neck, revealing pinkish skin that had ridged and puckered in some places. One of Honey Lemon’s eyepatches had been placed over his left eye, one that was green with a big purple and pink circle in the middle. The nasal cannula was still there, not lost in bandages now, but somehow not as terrifying as it had been.

Hiro sunk into the hard plastic chair by his nii-chan’s bedside.

“Baymax, can you scan him?”

Baymax quickly complied, head nodding slightly as he scanned the older boy.

“Tadashi is suffering from smoke inhalation, and burns to the face, neck, torso, arms and legs, primarily on the left side of his body. His neurotransmitter levels indicate he is in a comatose state, but may awaken soon.”

Baymax lowered the hand he had raised during the diagnosis. Hiro let out a breath he’d been holding. Tadashi would wake up. Tadashi would wake up and he’d be okay. It was the happiest he’d ever felt, including when Professor Callaghan had been impressed with his invention. He couldn’t help it, big fat tears rolled down his face as he smiled and sobbed, clinging to Tadashi’s uninjured hand.

“There, there. It will be alright,” said Baymax, patting him on the head.

Hiro knew it would be okay. Everything would be okay now. Tadashi would come back to him.

With the relief came all the aches and pains he had put aside for his worry. Hunger clawed at his belly while his muscles burned with fatigue from his chase after Baymax. He couldn’t help it if his eyes closed a little, and he drifted off into a sleep that was free of fire and smoke for the first time since the fire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, here is what I wrote instead of the stories for my short fiction final. This story is kinda taking over all my writing life at the moment.


	5. Upgrades

The summer sun warmed the grassy rise pleasantly. Above, a cherry tree shaded them with vibrant green leaves. Tadashi was there, smiling as Baymax did cartwheels in the grass.

“Wheeee!” he cried drunkenly as he flipped his tubby body over his hands. “Wheeee!”

Hiro laughed along with Tadashi, sitting on a checked picnic blanket beneath the tree. Tadashi’s warm hand was on his shoulder, shaking with mirth. Then he shook Hiro harder, as if to rattle Hiro’s bones.

“Tadashi, stop!” Hiro whined.

But Tadashi would not stop, his hand tightening and continuing to shake his shoulder.

Then, suddenly, Hiro was awake, and Tadashi was lying still in the white sheets of the hospital bed. Hiro looked around to see a kindly doctor with grey at the temples of her dark hair behind him. Baymax was standing to one side, observing silently like an inflatable ghost.

“Hiro, was it?” the doctor asked. “Visiting hours for the day are over, it’s time for you to go home. I promise your brother will still be here tomorrow.”

Hiro opened his mouth to reply, but yawned widely instead. He opted for nodding instead, trying to cover his wide mouth with one hand. Geez, remind him never to sleep in a hard chair ever again, his spine was complaining loudly, as were his butt and neck. It felt like he’d never get the kinks out now.

“I am Hiro’s personal healthcare companion. I will make sure he gets home safely,” said Baymax.

The doctor gave Baymax a long inquisitive stare.

“My brother’s robotics project. Just ignore it,” Hiro explained.

“Alright. I’ll be back in five to check on my patient, and you’d best be gone by then.”

“Sure thing,” Hiro replied.

The doctor smiled and left to give Hiro some privacy to say goodbye.

Hiro looked down at his brother, still breathing, still alive. At least Baymax was still here to keep Hiro somewhat on track, but he wished the accident never would have happened, he needed his nii-chan, not his robot. Hiro’s mind then jumped to the masked man, the masked man with his microbots, the masked man who set fire to the exhibition hall, making the fire not an accident at all, but arson. Hiro’s blood ran cold at the thought. The masked man had murdered Professor Callaghan, had almost murdered Tadashi.

“Hiro, I have sensed a spike in your neurotransmitter levels, indicating you are experiencing anxiety,” Baymax said. Hiro wondered if the robot was programmed to constantly scan his patient.

“Yeah. That masked man… the fire… I need to catch the guy. For Tadashi, and the Professor.”

“Would that help your neurotransmitter levels?”

“You know what? It just might. But first, you need some upgrades.”

Hiro poked the pudgy robot in the belly before leaning down to press a soft kiss into his brother’s remaining hair and give his hand a final squeeze.

“See you around, Nii-chan,” said Hiro quietly.

He missed Baymax poking himself in the belly throughout the one-sided goodbye.

Ideas flew through Hiro’s head the whole walk home. How could he turn Baymax from a healthcare robot to a crime fighting robot? The healthcare part would be handy to have for any accidents that might happen while they were trying to apprehend the man in the kabuki mask. But what else would he need? Hiro didn’t want to touch the chip Tadashi had coded, after all, Baymax was his project for college, he couldn’t just mess around with it.

That’s when he remembered there were three chip slots in Baymax. He could build his own, completely for crime fighting. Easy peasy. There were now so many things to consider. Speed, strength, fighting style –Hiro was getting giddy with the ideas flowing through his head.

Upon reaching The Lucky Cat Hiro let them in and made his way down towards the café. How could anyone invent on an empty stomach. He grabbed some chocolate-chocolate doughnuts from the display. He could hear Aunt Cass watching one of her weird old horror films in the living room upstairs, probably clinging onto Mochi for dear life. Not that the cat would mind, he seemed to have a great love for Aunt Cass and all her squeezing habits.

“Eating so much sugar is bad for your teeth. Though I am glad to see you are eating as my scans say you are underweight, I would suggest you instead eat a balanced diet of fruits, vegetables, and proteins,” Baymax piped up, a little too loud for Hiro’s liking, but the sound of screaming on old film drowned out the robot.

“You only say that because robots can’t know the wonders of Aunt Cass’ chocolate-chocolate doughnuts.”

Hiro then lead the way to the garage where he and Tadashi had created their own makeshift lab. He hadn’t been in there since the day of the exhibition and everything was covered in a small film of dust. The designs for the microbots were still scattered over the desks and pinned to the wall. Hiro angrily ripped them off the wall. If he hadn’t invented those damn things…

“Hiro, your brief nap at the hospital was not enough rest. Might I suggest we go upstairs and you get the full eight hours of sleep needed in adolescence?”

“Trust me, I’ll be getting tons of rest after we catch this guy.”

Baymax watched as Hiro puttered around the room, stuffing the microbot designs into a recycle bin and taking out a sketchpad. He dropped into the beat-up old rolling chair and grabbed the nearest pencil, flipping the sketchpad open to the first blank page.

Hiro immediately set to sketching, not noticing when Baymax wandered over to peer curiously over his shoulder. Every so often Hiro would ruffle his hands through his hair and sigh, erasing this line or that. Eventually his hair, already untidy and thick, became an utter crows nest.

Eventually Hiro set down the pencil and fired up the computer, opening a program to create the armour he had designed in the notebook. He fiddled with the specifics for a while, but the press of time won out over the debate over colour choices. He had Baymax stand with his arms out for measurements, Hiro standing on the rolling chair to reach Baymax’s shoulders (with the robot cautioning him that his actions may lead to injury all the while). Once his design was printing off in the corner Hiro set to work finding a spare chip in the disorganized mess of a lab.

Eventually he found one, a bright, cheerful cherry red chip in Tadashi’s neatly organized box of parts. Hiro almost felt bad about taking it, but it was his brother’s robot, so his brother could supply the parts. He slotted it into the computer and set to work, using his coding skills to break apart Tadashi’s favourite karate movie and isolate the moves used by the karate master, mapping them onto Baymax, adjusting to fit the robot’s peculiar build, adjusting Baymax’s top speed to make the moves effective, ensuring that the robot would use his thousand pounds of strength rather than the feeble amount he had used to try and kick the warehouse door down. Baymax simply followed Hiro around the room as he rolled around between checking on the 3D printer and coding the new chip.

Finally, finally, the new chip was finished, though the armour was still printing away. Hiro motioned Baymax over as he ejected the chip. He spun out of the chair and leaned up to press and open Baymax’s chest compartment in one fluid motion, reaching up with his other hand to plug in the red chip when he caught sight of the handwriting on Tadashi’s green one. His brother had drawn a smiley doctor face on it, solely intending to use Baymax to help people. If only Baymax could’ve helped him. Hiro had drawn a skull and crossbones on his. Maybe if Baymax had had this kind of programming before, he would have been able to save Tadashi, and Professor Callaghan. Maybe he could have prevented the hall from burning in the first place.

Hiro slid the red chip into the slot next to Tadashi’s and gently closed the chest compartment. Baymax would be able to save people now, he would be quick enough to get someone out of a burning building, strong enough to fend off any attackers. He would be good enough to catch the guy who murdered Callaghan and nearly killed Tadashi.

“I fail to see how knowing karate makes me a better healthcare companion,” Baymax stated.

“Then you can’t see the obvious. You’re going to help a lot of people now, Baymax. Just wait until Nii-chan sees you when he wakes up. I bet he’ll call himself knucklehead for not thinking of this,” Hiro smiled to himself, imagining his brother’s reaction to finding out Baymax could prevent someone from getting hurt instead of only being useful after the fact. His nii-chan would smack a hand against his forehead and bemoan his teeny brain for days.

With that thought in mind Hiro gave a gigantic yawn.

“I think you were right about that going to bed idea. A shower would be good too,” said Hiro.

“Personal hygiene helps personal health,” Baymax agreed.

Hiro checked to make sure the printers would continue their work before shutting off the garage light and leading Baymax up to his and Tadashi’s room. He was unsurprised Aunt Cass had gone to bed and tiptoed his way up the stairs. Baymax squeak-squeaked up behind him and managed to find his own way back into the charging station.

“Are you satisfied with your care?” asked Baymax as Hiro was about to enter the bathroom, a fluffy purple towel over his arm.

“What?”

“I cannot deactivate until you say you are satisfied with your care. Would you like some privacy while you sleep?”

Hiro thought about it. Flickers of fire ghosted through his mind. Maybe knowing someone who wouldn’t judge, wouldn’t look at him with pity, would be nearby in case of nightmares wouldn’t be so bad.

“No Baymax, I’m not yet satisfied with my care. You get comfy all right? I won’t be too long.”

“I am a robot, robots do not have need for comfort. But I will wait on your bed, as it is where you seem to be most comfortable.”

Hiro chuckled to himself as he closed the bathroom door. He would swear Baymax was developing a tone and personality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have finished my work for this term!! I'm now free to write to my hearts content! That is, around making two cosplays in the time that I'm home. I hate not having a sewing machine at school. (I have plans to cosplay Hiro sometime in the future too!)  
> Sorry if this chapter seems gross and rushed and altogether shitty. I've only been writing in the middle of the night recently and it hasn't been pretty. I just wanted to give you guys something as it feels like its been a while since I last posted.


	6. Armour Up

The bed was too soft. It felt like he was drowning in marshmallows. Maybe he was drowning in marshmallows. A strange dream, but not unpleasant. Hiro wriggled a little, trying to wade through the marshmallows to… well, he didn’t know where. Then Hiro felt the blanket covering him and the morning sunlight on his face and knew he was awake but the marshmallow mattress was still there.

“Good morning, Hiro.”

Hiro shot up, toppling off the bed and to the floor. The fall took longer than usual, but that was because Baymax was in his bed. Being his mattress. He’d been sleeping on Baymax.

“Baymax what are you doing?” Hiro asked, rubbing the elbow he had landed on.

“You have fallen. On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?” Baymax displayed his scale of happy faces.

“We’re not doing this again Buddy. What are you doing in my bed?”

“When you are having nightmares it is better for the patient to be held and reassured. Last night you were having a nightmare, so I held and reassured you. Perhaps I should call your friends so you may have more emotional support?”

Baymax’s chest lit up with pictures of Tadashi’s friends.

“No, no Baymax! It’s fine. I don’t need you to call them.”

They weren’t really his friends anyway. They were Tadashi’s friends who just happened to let him tag along with them. They were nice though; Hiro liked them even if they sometimes treated him like a kid.

The display on Baymax’s chest faded away.

  
“Come on, it’s time to get you in that armour.”

Hiro once again dragged the robot to the garage/lab, pleased to note that Baymax was keeping up this time, he hardly needed to pull him along at all.

Once into the makeshift lab Hiro scrambled around collecting the armour that had finished printing during the night. It still needed to be assembled, and Hiro sat down to work. He got Baymax to hand him tools, explaining each one the first time he asked for it then pleasantly discovering that Baymax would remember the tool when he asked again. It took all morning for the chest plate and helmet to come together, though Hiro only kept the passage of time through an old Mickey Mouse clock on the wall. He didn’t want to open up the heavy garage door in case Aunt Cass or one of the neighbours came peeking in.

A low growl  rose above the sounds of screws and tools that made Hiro blush. Mickey’s hands were pointing at one-thirty, past lunchtime and Hiro was feeling it. Actually, he was feeling the hunger of all the meals he missed and his body was demanding them all at once.

“You stay here, don’t touch anything,” he said to Baymax with a warning finger as he left the garage. The robot nodded and settled as still as a statue.

The smells from the café made Hiro’s mouth water. He wondered if any wings were left in the fridge upstairs in their own kitchen. The fridge did not have sufficient offerings. A couple of wings and a hunk of cheese was not enough to satisfy Hiro’s belly. So he made his way down into the café, trying to sneak through the fairly full shop and to the back kitchen there. The café did sandwiches at lunchtime, sometimes soup too, and Hiro bet he could steal something without Aunt Cass being any the wiser.

“Hiro, I see you creeping around back there! Come help me with the orders for a while.”

Damn. Aunt Cass had spotted him.

It’s not like Aunt Cass hired any extra help in the café, she had two strong boys to help her out. One now, and who knows when Tadashi would be up to working in the shop again. If he would ever wake up that is. Hiro donned an apron over his shirt and cargo shorts, the apron being much too big came down past his knees and the neck line rested well below where it should. His hunger would have to wait until Aunt Cass was satisfied.

“Can I at least have a cookie before I start?” Hiro begged, bringing out the puppy eyes.

“Just one. Miss Ghazali just ordered an extra hot latte and you know I can’t get the machine to work for me like it does you.”

Hiro grabbed one of the matcha shortbreads before working his magic on the industrial coffee machine. It wasn’t that hard to steam the milk extra hot. Hiro suspected that Aunt Cass just didn’t like dealing with machines, unlike her two genius boys.

The two of them fell into their routine easily, though Hiro hadn’t worked in the café for the better part of a month. First the microbots consumed his time, then the accident at SFIT and Tadashi… It had been a while anyway. He missed the sound of his brother making the sandwiches and other savory goods in the café’s kitchen. Usually Tadashi would be mumbling under his breath about his robotics projects, interjecting comments about his cooking, sometimes teasing Hiro while they worked. Aunt Cass was their front woman, she ran the show entirely, while at the same time being friendly and helpful. Hiro wished he could have inherited some of her intrapersonal skills as the one time he’d been let on cash he had fumbles the customers change all over the floor and garbled his words so badly the man had thought he was speaking German instead of English. The man had then started trying to order in German and Hiro had gotten so flustered he ran into the kitchen and hid behind Tadashi.

His brother hadn’t let him live that one down. Ever.

Today it was just the two of them, as seamless as ever but missing an important part of their system. Slowly the lunchtime patrons left, leaving Hiro to go and bus the tables, bringing the dishes to the café kitchen sink and dumping them in. Normally Tadashi would be there to start the dishes, but since he was not, Hiro began the task, feeling the distinct absence of his nii-chan.

When that chore was done Aunt Cass let him go with a turkey-cranberry sandwich, telling him to get more as soon as he was hungry.

“You need some fattening up! You can’t expect to grow anymore if you don’t eat anything.”

She was starting to sound like Baymax. Granted, Hiro was a little thin, but whatever, he was a growing boy, he was bound to look a little scrawny.

Returning to the garage Hiro was glad to see Baymax had remained in the same place.

Hiro quickly finished the armour.

“Alright Buddy, it’s time to get you dressed.”

Hiro had to use a step-stool to get most of the armour on, but it worked. The hardest were the gloves and stomach plating, pushing the robot across the garage to squeeze them on. When he was done Baymax didn’t look so much like his original plans, but was armoured nonetheless. The colours weren’t quite right, the greenish-grey and blue looking drab instead of impressive. His squishy belly protruded, though fully covered, and it somewhat diminished the whole intimidating look Hiro had been aiming for.

“I do not see how armour and knowing karate will make me a better healthcare companion.”

“You want to protect your patient, right? Now break this!” Hiro held up a block of wood from the spare parts pile.

Baymax obliged, splitting the wood in half with ease. Hiro bounced with excitement. His programming worked! Hiro nearly jumped for joy, calling out various karate moves and watching Baymax execute them perfectly, his bouncing increasing with each.

Just for kicks he called out: “Gummy bears!” and watched as Baymax got him some out of the vending machine Tadashi had programmed against him. It wasn’t his fault gummy bears were so addicting, Tadashi needed to calm down with the mother-hening sometimes.

Finally, finally, they were ready to catch the man in the kabuki mask.

“Fist bump,” said Hiro holding out his fist towards Baymax.

“Fist bump is not in my fighting database,” replied Baymax, tipping his head in confusion.

“No, no. It’s not a fighting thing, it’s a celebration thing. You hold out your fist.” Baymax raised his armoured fist. “And fshooo!” Hiro lifted his arm and made mock explosion noises. Baymax paused studying the gesture and then.

“Badaladala!” The robot wiggled his fingers into the air.

“Close enough,” Hiro giggled. “Now lets go catch the man in the kabuki mask.”

Hiro patted his pockets, ensuring the microbot was still there, and pulled it out. It was straining against its prison. It was time to follow the bot to the man who stole it and hurt his brother. No one hurt his nii-chan and got away with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one is a short one. My life has been occupied by life things, meaning that all the time I thought I would get to work on this is spent being dragged around doing life things and christmas things. Also making cosplay. Frikin skirts taking forever. 5 meters of fabric for one miniskirt. So many damn ruffles. Curse you CLAMP!   
> Also if you want to follow my (fairly boring) tumblr: http://stardustandash.tumblr.com/


	7. Carbon Fibre Underpants?

The night air was close and still, the damp of it going strait to the bones and the chill settling in. It was the night air of a foggy morning, not uncommon in San Fransokyo. The streets were quiet, a few cars whizzed by, but no other pedestrians were around to ogle the sight of a tiny fourteen-year-old and a giant robot in ill-fitting armour running down the hills towards the bay, making odd twists and turns as they went. Hiro was so focused on the directions from the microbot he wandered straight through intersections and down thin alleyways. Behind him Baymax bounced along, tiny boots tapping against the ground, looking like a goat with a walking problem.

Hiro was unsure of where they were going but he wanted to be there already, damn it. The man in the kabuki mask needed to be caught, needed to pay for stealing his microbots, almost killing Tadashi, and killing Professor Callaghan. He’d burned an entire exhibition hall for what? One solitary project. He could have just taken it and no one would have noticed. Well, maybe someone, but with the microbots he could have made a clean getaway. Hiro’s frustration grew and his world reduced to the tiny robot in the petri dish in his hands. He made several twisting turns, not noticing when a van began to follow him.

It crept down the streets behind Hiro and Baymax. Never less than a block behind, travelling slowly as it followed. Occasionally Hiro would loose it as he turned into a narrow alley or made a turn the van wasn’t anticipating. Hiro made another sudden right turn down an alley where even Baymax had to turn sideways to fit and the van lost them.

Hiro wasn’t sure where he was in the city anymore, and neither did he care. The microbot was leading him towards the man in the kabuki mask and he was going to catch him. He was startled out of his thoughts when Baymax seized the hood on his sweater and yanked him back.

“Be careful,” said Baymax, a little late.

Hiro looked down and realized he’d been about to step off a pier into a very cold fall ocean. The microbot was straining out over the ocean, but Hiro swore there was nothing out there. Well, there was the island, but there was nothing on it. Maybe the masked man had a boat hideout. Hiro hadn’t made Baymax capable of taking them both over water yet, which was a wrench in the works. It didn’t matter as the microbot managed to break out of the petri dish and zoom away into the fog. Hiro peered after it, trying desperately to see where it went.

He didn’t have to look for long as a curious splashing sound grew louder and louder. Hiro grabbed Baymax and pulled the robot behind a shipping container just as the masked man burst out of the fog. He was riding on the microbots and carrying something with him, a piece of machinery with a strange red bird-in-a-circle design painted on it. Hiro knew it was now or never and opened his mouth to order Baymax to take the man down but a bright light shone in his face, leaving the order to die in his throat.

Hiro blinked in the bright light, one hand up to shield his eyes from the harsh glow, trying to see what was behind it. He was just able to make out the fact that there were two sources of light when they disappeared, leaving him to blink bright spots out of his vision.

A car. It was a car. Hiro heard the doors open and expected the ‘What are you up to, young man’ speech from a couple of bored police officers. What he did not expect were Tadashi’s friends.

“Hiro,” called Honey Lemon.

“What are you doing out here?” asked Wasabi.

At least police officers would be helpful in catching the man in the kabuki mask. Tadashi’s friends were going to get themselves hurt if they got in the way. What would Tadashi say then?

“You guys have to go,” warned Hiro, not that they seemed to even listen to him.

“Why is Baymax wearing carbon-fiber underpants?” asked GoGo, popping her gum.

Hiro nearly facepalmed as Baymax tried to begin explaining, cutting him off quickly.

“It doesn’t matter, you guys need to get out of here!”

Again Hiro found himself ignored, and the gang all came closer, their postures indicating they thought he was going to bolt like a skittish colt.

Hiro couldn’t pay any attention to them, his mind on the masked man just on the other side of the shipping container. Hopefully he wouldn’t hear all the racket from Tadashi’s friends.

This hope died a very sudden death soon after its birth. Poor hope, being dashed out of existence by the masked man lifting a shipping container with the microbots to loom ominously down at the group. For a moment there was no sound aside from gentle waves on the pier and the flapping of the masked man’s trench coat. Out of the corner of his eye Hiro saw Honey raise an arm and snap a photo with her phone, setting off the flash and spurring the masked man into action. A large shipping container came hurtling towards them, flung by the microbots. Hiro scrambled out of the way, brain too petrified to scream or curse. One of the girls was shrieking though. His money was on Honey Lemon until he looked to see Wasabi crouched and wailing under the container. Hiro’s eyes followed the line to see that Baymax was doing his hero duty and holding up the red metal container that had threatened to squish them like beetles.

“Ok we gotta go, now!” GoGo began herding them towards the car, towing along a reluctant Hiro.

“Oh come on, Baymax can take this guy,” defended Hiro, gesturing at Baymax without really looking.

Hiro was given four looks of disbelief that quickly morphed into fear. Hiro didn’t need to turn around to find out what happened as Baymax crashed into the roof of Wasabi’s van, leaving a sizeable dent the robot sat in.

“Oh no,” Baymax said, as calm as ever.

Hiro thought the situation called for much stronger sentiment than that, but he wasn’t going to argue with the man in the kabuki mask hovering ten feet above the ground threatening them with large metal boxes through the use of his worst invention ever. Hiro should have done something better, like a soothing cat grooming station. Every cat owner would need one, right?

Hiro didn’t think too hard about the logistics of cat grooming as he scrambled into the van behind Fred and Honey. He was practically bouncing on the stiff fabric of the seats as Wasabi took off in reverse. The interior of the car was pine fresh and meticulously clean, but none of that mattered as a dark surge of microbots took off after them, the masked man seeming to float along weightless as he chased them.

They were travelling so fast in reverse Hiro felt a bit dizzy but there was no time to turn around. Until the man in the kabuki mask sent a pulse of microbots close enough.

“Baymax! Palm-heel strike!” Hiro shouted, hoping his idea would work.

It did, and the gang was zooming off in the properly oriented vehicle.

The streets were empty as Wasabi sped them along, not at a breakneck speed, but a perfectly acceptable 10 kilometers over the speed limit. Hiro would facepalm if he wasn’t so concerned that he was going to be killed by the man who stole his invention through the use of said invention.

“How cool is this, a villain!” Fred was chattering excitedly in the back of the van, face pressed against the rear window to stare out at the man in the kabuki mask. “I mean, it’s scary, yeah. But how cool.”

They swung around a corner.

“Did you put your blinker on?” GoGo said incredulously from the front.

“I think we saw too much, he must be trying to kill us,” said Fred, unconcerned that their getaway driver was being far too cautious to actually save their lives.

“Oh we don’t know that,” said Honey, ever the optimist. At least, until some poor hardworking person’s car was used as a projectile by the man in the kabuki mask. “He’s trying to kill us!”

They swung around another corner and down another –thankfully empty- street.

“Baymax can take this guy. Just pull ov-“ Hiro was cut off in his protests as a swarm of microbots ripped off the door he had been leaning on, sending him out of the newly made hole in the van over the black asphalt.

Hiro thought he was going to die. He was going to turn into ground human on the road and then Aunt Cass would cry and there wouldn’t even be enough of him left to burn he’d just be a splatter in the middle of the road to be washed away by a winter storm and oh god what would Tadashi do when he woke up and Hiro wasn’t there anymore.

Hiro then realized he should not have had time to think all this and noticed a strong grip on the back of his hoodie. He looked up to see the comforting face of Baymax looking down at him. The robot, still seated in the dent in the roof, gently placed him back in the seat and did up his seat belts.

“Seat belts save lives. Buckle up every time.”

Tadashi had literally made his robot quote a MADD commercial. Hiro gaped up at Baymax before being snapped to a stop.

Confused and scared that the masked man had caught them Hiro glanced around.

“Why did you stop?”

“The light’s red. It’s the law,” replied Wasabi.

“There are no red lights in car chases!”

GoGo, fed up with Wasabi’s driving, unbuckled herself and slid over into Wasabi’s lap. She pushed the seat back, took a grip on the steering wheel, and made the little van _launch_ through the intersection.

Hiro knew that GoGo was a bit if a speed freak. Just how much of an addiction to speed she actually had Hiro had never guessed as they flew down the streets, disregarding all pedestrian crossings, school zones, one ways, and sidewalks as GoGo drove like a professional rally driver through the quiet San Fransokyo streets.

Street signs whizzed by faster than Hiro could read, but they still couldn’t loose the man in the kabuki mask. He was no longer chasing them, but rather haunting them, herding them down towards the bay once more. Hiro felt the panic bubble up in him once again as he realized they were being herded into a shrinking tunnel of microbots. Hiro kept his eyes fixed on the shrinking light at the end of the shifting dark tunnel, shutting out Honey and Fred’s banter over whether they were going to make it. Hiro sincerely hoped they would.

With a last burst of speed the van pushed through the microbots. Hiro felt his heart sing with relief, then plummet with the rest of him as the car swan dived into the cold water of San Fransokyo bay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM SO SORRY! Apologies for the lateness and apologies for the terrible quality of the writing in this one, but its Christmas Eve (by 1 hour) and I thought y'all deserved an early present.   
> THANK YOU TO MY LOVELY REVIEWERS!! I don't deserve your kindness, truly.   
> Also I might skip over some of the films events as the true plan for this story actually takes place mostly towards the end/aftermath of the movie. I want to get there already.  
> HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!! I hope all of you have had or will have wonderful time with the people who love you and that you eat your own weight in delicious foods. Tis the sweatpant season.


	8. The Line Between Fantasy and Reality

Water rushed into the car, cold and swift, as they sunk towards the bottom of the bay. Salt stung Hiro’s eyes but in his panic he didn’t think to close them. The world beneath the waves was murky and green and too quiet after the squeal of tires and the tinkling sound of a million microbots chasing after them. Hiro felt Honey and Fred pushing their way past him out of the van. He tried to follow but was pushed back by the seat belt still firmly anchored. What was supposed to save his life was going to make him drown.

Irony, thought Hiro, it’s a killer.

With frantic tugs he pulled on the stiff belt and pressed the release to no avail. Hiro’s lungs were beginning to burn with the need for air. Where did everyone else go? Did they leave him down there? Alone at the bottom of the bay?

Out of the corner of his eye Hiro saw a large dark shape moving. Were there sharks in the waters around San Fransokyo? Hiro wasn’t sure, but he knew he did not want to find out. Hiro did give in and look, giving up on the snare of a seatbelt. It was not a shark. In fact, it was not even alive. Hiro recognized the shape as part of Baymax’s armour.

This was important, but Hiro couldn’t figure out why. His lungs were screaming and his head felt like it was about to burst. He knew that the armour no longer being attached to Baymax would mean something, but he couldn’t figure it out. His eyes hurt. Did he have to keep them open? Hiro let his eyes drift closed.

Dimly Hiro registered a large squishy arm wrapping around him. A tug, and then Hiro was rising. His lungs were screaming at him.  Then Hiro broke the surface, coughing and spluttering and gulping in air. Sound assaulted his ears yet again, all around was the sounds of people struggling to feed starved lungs.

“Are we all alive?” asked Fred.

“Looks like it,” answered GoGo.

Hiro spluttered and swiped the salt out of his stinging eyes. Looking down, Hiro Found they were all floating, being held up by Baymax.

“Might I suggest that we go someplace warm? Your core temperatures are low and I must tend to your injuries,” Baymax brought them all back to the reality that they still were in the middle of San Fransokyo bay in autumn at night. They might have survived drowning but they all knew that swimming in the ocean this time of year was a bad idea. They all worked together to kick themselves to shore with Baymax acting as a sort of kickboard for the five of them. It was a quick trip back to the dock they had dived off of, and they flopped up onto the wood like dying fish. They were all sore and exhausted, and as soon as they were out of the water and into the breeze the chill set into their bones.

“Where should we go?” asked Honey Lemon, pulling her soaked cardigan tighter around herself.

“I know a place, come on,” Fred gestured for them to follow, setting off away from the water.

Nobody felt too fussed to argue. If Fred had somewhere warm to go who would complain. Hiro hoped it wasn’t too far.

His feet were still squelching in his shoes, and the gross feeling of stepping on a sponge came with every footfall as they continued to navigate the streets. Houses in the area were becoming bigger and farther apart, and Hiro was desperately hoping that Fred was not kidding around this time and that they would actually find a warm place to hole up for a little while. He had seen a symbol on what the man in the kabuki mask (he really needed to come up with a name for the guy) had been carrying, and while he did not know it, Tadashi’s friends might.

Hiro nearly bumped into GoGo when Fred brought the company to a halt.

“Here it is!”

He had led them to the biggest mansion Hiro had ever seen. TV shows and movies included. Who even had enough money for a house like that, did they know how much space could be devoted to a state of the art lab in a house like that? So many options and so much equipment.

“Fred, if this is a jo-“ GoGo was cut off by the door opening and a thin, middle aged man with a moustache and a very starched suit stepping out.

“Good evening, Master Frederick,” said the man.

“Heathcliff, my man!” Fred gave Heathcliff a fist bump and entered his mansion.

The rest of them stood in shocked silence before filing past the statuesque Heathcliff, whose fist was still raised.

Hiro walked though the door and into the most lavish home he had ever seen in his life. Marble tiles on the floor, ornately carved staircase, more portraits and original artworks than the museum downtown, Hiro was in awe. Aunt Cass would love this.

Fred led the way through the maze of a mansion to his bedroom, commenting about his parents on the way, but Hiro was now focused on finding out what the symbol meant. Fred led them into comic nerd heaven, aka his bedroom, and Hiro immediately commandeered the desk.

“Your body temperature is still low,” commented Baymax.

Hiro paid him no mind, too busy sketching out the symbol. Quite suddenly there was a weight on his back, and then a soothing heat. Baymax had folded himself over on top of him and begun heating from a core source Hiro hadn’t known about. The rest of the gang came over to lie on Baymax’s soft warm exterior, sighing in contentment at “spooning a warm marshmallow”.

Hiro finally finished the picture to his satisfaction, the general shape reminding him of another movie that came out in November but a bit more intense and with a female protagonist with a major talent in archery and staying alive in a post-apocalyptic world where children kill each other for entertainment.

“Do any of you recognize this? It was on something the masked guy was carrying.”

Hiro reached around Baymax’s cuddling balloon arms to show the picture. A shake of the head from each of them left them all deeper in mystery.

“I think I know who’s behind that mask. Be prepared to have your minds blown!” Fred shoved Honey, GoGo, and Wasabi onto a curved white leather couch before shoving comic books in hands. Hiro looked at Fred, trying desperately to understand what he was trying to convey through nerdy enthusiasm. He was glad that the girls and Wasabi looked just as lost as he felt.

Fred, however, would not be deterred. He practically danced around the room, building up to the point where he unashamedly announced that the guy who stole Hiro’s microbots was none other than Alister Krei.

“What, we don’t know that!” said Honey Lemon, always believing the best in people. Wasabi was nodding along with her.

“But think about it, we all know that Krei wanted the microbots, heck, he nearly pocketed the one you showed him. So, you with me? My theory is, he went back into the exhibition hall after you left, set it on fire, and made his getaway using your microbots. And now, he’s using them to be a supervillain and stuff, how cool! Right?”

Hiro did not share Fred’s enthusiasm, but his theory could ring true. He had gotten the creepy vibe off of Krei when he met him at the exhibition.

“Catching the masked man will help balance Hiro’s neurotransmitter levels,” piped up Baymax.

“Sweet!”

“What? No! We should just tell the police!”

“They didn’t believe me when I tried to tell them before!” Hiro shot down Wasabi’s idea.

“Tadashi is our best friend,” said GoGo, putting one hand on Hiro’s shoulder, silently offering her help.

A row of figurines in a glassed in shelf caught Hiro’s eye. Everyone seemed to be mirrored in the glass on top of one of the figures. An idea started blooming in his mind. A wonderful idea that would probably make Tadashi give him a long lecture on safety and the line between fantasy and reality.

“First things first. You guys are going to need some upgrades.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year Folks!  
> Sorry about delays and stuff. Life and stuff. Same old same old.   
> On the cosplay front (fellow cosplayers come commiserate) I've been screwed over by my local fabric store -aka the only one within reasonable distance- as I have bought out their stock of one very important kind of trim necessary to ridiculously ruffled skirts, and they refuse to order more in. So tomorrow I face the hunt for horse hair braid. I hope I find some. I hope. All the other fabric stores take an hour or so to get to. Please let it be worth it.
> 
> PS. Can Big Hero 6 come out on DVD already? I need it like air.


	9. When Is A Team Not A Team?

Three days. That’s all it took for Hiro to draft, design and complete six superhero outfits, with the help of Honey, GoGo and Wasabi of course. Together they had collaborated in the garage lab to create individual super suits. Fred had come up with the idea to make them relate to their projects, and so Hiro left the finer points of development to each, only taking full responsibility for Fred, himself, and Baymax.

He failed to notice how the others would frown when he worked through the meals aunt Cass brought them –they made sure she wasn’t fully aware of what they were doing, pretending Hiro was helping them with their projects or they were visiting- and seemed to survive off of the sugary treats from the café instead. They were happy he was eating, but they wanted their best friends little brother to be safe. They had, after all, been subjected to enough of Tadashi’s worry they couldn’t help worry about Hiro themselves. Baymax protested time and time again, voicing their own thoughts, but after the first day they realized Hiro was too focused on his goal to pay attention to any nagging.

At the end of the third day Hiro shooed them out of the lab with their completed super suits and made them promise to meet the next morning at Fred’s mansion for training. It was then that Hiro started on Baymax’s suit, and one other one. For Baymax it was relatively simple to correct his mistakes from the first version, including his terrible colour choice. Hiro, being fourteen and still a child at heart, also decided Baymax needed wings. And thrusters. Come on, he was a giant balloon with a superhero costume, there was no way Hiro wasn’t turning him into his own personal jetpack. Hiro designed his own suit to be compatible with Baymax using magnets, his specialty. Then he turned himself to his other task. Tadashi’s suit.

Hiro wasn’t sure why he was making a suit for Tadashi. He had hope that his nii-chan would wake up soon. Aunt Cass said he even reacted to her voice a bit when she visited him earlier in the day, but the doctors said that sometimes people didn’t wake up all at once like in the movies. But when Tadashi woke up Hiro knew he didn’t want him to find out that he was doing dangerous things and risking the lives of his friends. Hiro couldn’t help it though; he wanted his big brother there with him.

The suit he designed for Tadashi was much like his own, with magnets on the feet, knees, and gloves so that his nii-chan could ride his own robot. Baymax would also keep Tadashi out of any danger, Hiro knew. In colour he chose to match it to Baymax’s red and purple, knowing that it would probably look quite dramatic.

Why was he even doing this? They were only going to catch the masked guy, not save the whole damn city.

Hiro let his head fall against the desk in frustration, but by morning there was a complete suit custom tailored for Tadashi hanging in the storage locker.

Everyone got used to their suits fairly quickly, though it took some time for Baymax and Hiro to adjust to flying –which by the way was amazing, even earning a “sick” from Baymax. In fact, it was only after two days of practice that they had Baymax track down the masked man and flew out to an island in the bay.

The island was in a word: creepy. Barbed wire topped fences, warning signs complete with skulls, run down old buildings, perfect home for any villain. The five humans on the rag-tag team were so jumpy they nearly killed a seagull unfortunate enough to scare them.

Inside the building they met a gruesome sight of twisted, fire-blackened metal in a large room. An observation deck held computers with data left on them, though the dust coating the surface indicated that the site had been abandoned for some time. Whoever had left the place had left in a mighty big hurry.

Then they found the video. A video almost like the science fiction that Fred loved so much. In it Alister Krei was showing off a real live teleportation device to a handful of important looking people from both the military and government. Hiro’s mind buzzed with the possibilities. The next great leap in inventing had come to pass and nobody knew about it.

Then they found out why.

The video continued, showing a young woman getting into a pod that lined itself up in the tracks before the left portal. With a glance out the large windows of the observation deck, Hiro knew where this was going. The video feed of the scientists that had worked on the observation deck reported that something in the field wasn’t behaving as it should, but Krei told them to keep the project running. The six of them watched as the pod launched into the portal with dread curling like a weight in their stomachs. It came as no surprise when the return portal burst into flames that quickly became an inferno, metal twisting in the heat before the video was cut off.

Hiro felt like he couldn’t breathe, the fire on the screen bringing to mind the heat and flames of another night, the feel of Tadashi’s arm in his hands, the friction of the fabric as his brother pulled away, the look of terror on Aunt Cass’ face. The moment was interrupted by the masked man, who used the microbots to hurl a rather large chunk of cement at them.

Hiro didn’t really register Wasabi’s tackle to get him out of the way, or that Baymax managed to protect them. His mind was with Tadashi, reliving the explosion.

“You ok little dude?” asked Fred, shaking Hiro’s shoulder and snapping him out of the fire.

“Y-yeah. Come on, let’s catch this guy!”

Hiro felt rage bubbling up inside him in the ebb of the memories. This was the guy who caused all of it to happen, who put Tadashi in the hospital. Off went the team with very little success. While it was clear they had all been training to actually use their super suits, what became stunningly obvious incredibly quickly was that they had not once thought about coordinating like a team. GoGo and Honey quickly took each other out, Fred was tossed aside like it was nothing –though he probably would have had more success if he hadn’t shouted and named his attacks. Wasabi tried his hardest, but he had no more luck than the others, quickly being swept aside.

Hiro watched his friends get tossed aside with ease and formulated his plan, clambering up on Baymax as he thought it out. If the man in the kabuki mask kept all his attention on his friends that would give Hiro the opening that he needed to snatch away the mask.

A breath later they were off, Baymax weaving around microbots and getting closer, closer, there! Hiro reached out to grab the mask exactly at the same time the man noticed their approach and flung microbots in their direction. The microbots slammed into Baymax like a wave and the magnets on Hiro’s hand and knees disconnected, making him crash into the masked man and sending them both tumbling over the short wall the portals rested on.

Hiro slammed into the ground and rolled a few feet with the force. The world seemed to tilt and swirl before coming back into stark relief. With one hand he pulled off his purple helmet, and with the other he massaged his head. Need to make the damn thing tighter, it slides around too much. Then the man lying in front of him moved, making Hiro come back to the reality of the situation. The kabuki mask was lying abandoned some feet away, meaning that Hiro was about to face the man who had stolen his tech and almost killed his brother. Hiro watched, waiting to look the man in the eye, but when he did, it felt like the world had dropped away beneath him and left him to fall.

Professor Callaghan. The Professor Callaghan. The one who Tadashi raved about all the time, who Tadashi had called a surrogate father, who had handed him the envelope saying that he was accepted to university and clapped his bother on the shoulder with a look of pride in his eyes.

Hiro felt like he was in a dream, or rather, a nightmare.

“Professor Callaghan? No, you died!” Hiro had been to the funeral, in Tadashi’s place. 

“You’re a smart boy Hiro, I’m pretty sure you figured out they buried an empty casket. I started the fire to get your oh so cleverly crafted microbots. Damn clever things they are.”

“You set the fire? Tadashi tried to rescue you! He’s been in the hospital for nearly a month because of you!”

“Then he’s not as smart as anyone thought.”

And Hiro was plunged into a misty sort of anger. The kind where he didn’t know how he was going to do it but he wanted Callaghan to hurt. He wanted Callaghan to feel the same pain he’d felt day after day watching Tadashi lie so still and silent, wondering if he would ever wake up.

Then Baymax, good old Baymax, landed behind him in all his armoured glory and gave Hiro the weapon he needed. He marched, methodically, over to Baymax and quickly opened his access port and took out Tadashi’s greed med chip. There was nothing about helping people and not harming anything on his fighting chip. Without a second thought Hiro tossed aside his brother’s years of devoted coding, his and Baymax’s eyes going red.

“Baymax, destroy,” said Hiro, voice deadly calm as he pointed at Callaghan.

The professor was smart enough to run.

Baymax chased after him, eyes glowing in the darkness. Hiro tried to follow, wanting to see the moment that Baymax pounded Callaghan with his rocket fist or kicked him into the wall.

The team was calling his name, but it sounded murky, like they were yelling at him from underwater. Honey’s pink gloves were tugging at his shoulders, but Hiro could only watch as Callaghan continued to evade Baymax. He barely registered Baymax tossing his team to the side on his rampage.

Then Baymax stopped, Honey Lemon’s hands pressed over Baymax’s access port and her eyes squeezed shut like she thought she was going to be squashed at any second.

It took Baymax a few seconds to come back to himself, but that was all the time Callaghan needed to snatch up the mask and make his escape.

“I apologize for any harm I may have done,” said Baymax quietly, gently helping Fred to his feet before he flinched out of his arms and backed up into the solid mass that was Wasabi.

“What are you doing? He’s getting away!” Couldn’t anyone see that the man who nearly killed his nii-chan was escaping?

“We did not sign up for this,” said Wasabi.

“We said we’d help catch the guy, not kill him,” added GoGo.

Hiro couldn’t think of anything to say as emotions bubbled through him: anger, desperation, sadness, anger, a brief flash of fear.

There was no way he could articulate all of that so he settled for climbing up on Baymax’s shoulders.

“After him!”

“My scanners appear to be damaged.”

Hiro was either going to scream or burst into tears.

“Baymax, fly.”

And off they went, leaving Tadashi’s friends in the remnants of a project gone wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, kinda late on this. Sorry.
> 
> Well, I'm still not close to the point where I wanted to actually start the story. Y'all ready for the long haul? Also guess who's taking a class for credits that is strictly watching terrible movies on ancient Greece and Rome (mostly from the 60's, but also Gladiator and 300), and a class that goes to my degree on making comics.   
> And I took a course on Tolkien's created history of Middle Earth last term.   
> MY UNI LIFE IS AWESOME OK!


	10. Momentary Respite

Hiro remembered little of the flight away from the island, nor how he had managed to sneak himself and Baymax into the garage without being seen. He yanked off his helmet and threw it into a corner, not caring about the notes and abandoned projects he took out with the toss.

“Hiro, your neurotransmitters are-“

“Just stop, Baymax. Not now. I need to fix your scanners.”

Hiro just couldn’t find the damn toolkit. He swore he had left it right here, next to the 3D printer, but it was gone. Perfect, just perfect. As if life didn’t suck today already.

Growling, he decided that first he should fix Baymax’s programming to allow him to take down the masked man. To take down Callaghan. Ugh, his brain was refusing to process the information and was giving him a headache. Hiro wanted to tear out his hair, but he settled for pressing the release on Baymax’s memory chip compartment with a bit more force than necessary. Baymax didn’t open.

“Baymax, open up.”

“Is this what would Tadashi would want?” Baymax asked, his marshmallowy head tilted in question.

“Tadashi’s not here right now, and it’s because of him!”

“Tadashi is here.”

“But he’s not _here_! He almost died, he could still die. Tadashi hasn’t been here for too long.”

“Tadashi is here.”

“No he isn’t Baymax. And we need to catch the guy who hurt him.”

But was it really Callaghan who was at fault. Hiro had designed the microbots, had left Callaghan the means to control them, had essentially handed over the necessary materials for Callaghan to hurt Tadashi.

Hiro sniffed. He wiped a hand over his cheeks, only hald surprised when they came back wet.

“Crying is a natural physical manifestation of emotions. It is perfectly healthy to cry. Would you like a tissue?”

Baymax wrapped armoured arms around Hiro, and that was all he needed to collapse like a rag doll and sob into his nii-chan’s robotics project.

“There, there.”

Hiro let it out. His guilt, the sorrow for Tadashi, the anger at Callaghan, the stress, it all went into Baymax’s exposed vinyl chest.

What seemed like hours later Hiro’s sobs subsided into small hiccoughing gasps and he pushed himself away from Baymax. The headache that had been growing before returned with vengeance and the inside of Hiro’s mouth felt as dry as his cheeks were wet.

“Your neurotransmitter levels are returning to normal, do you feel better Hiro?”

“You know what Baymax, I do. And we have someone to visit.”

Hiro began stripping himself of his own armour before getting Baymax out of the rest of his cherry-red armour. Baymax’s armour was gently placed next to the suit Hiro designed for Tadashi. The two suits sat looking like a proper hero duo, while Hiro left his own in a pile on the floor.

Once again in his familiar cargo shorts and hoodie Hiro was off, Baymax in tow. The city bustled by quickly, as they rode the cable car up and down San Fransokyo’s hills.

The hospital was as disturbing as ever, the smell of antiseptic burning deep into Hiro’s nose, but still not quite covering up the smells of blood and vomit and death. The way to Tadashi’s room was familiar, the maze of identical hallways had become easy to navigate.

When Hiro entered the room he felt oddly disappointed in the fact that his brother was still lying in the same still position as the last time he had visited. He didn’t know what he expected, but Hiro knew he could use one of Tadashi’s hugs right about now.

Instead his brother lay quietly in bed, clean white bandages wrapped around his left arm, the ones around his neck disappearing to reveal the web of pink, puckered skin. The nasal cannula was gone this time as well, and was that a bit more life in Tadashi’s cheeks.

“My scanners indicate that Tadashi is doing much better.”

“I think that might just be true buddy,” said Hiro, taking a seat in one of the hard plastic chairs next to Tadashi’s bed.

Today’s eye patch was purple, no cute design on this one, just a plain, soft purple that stood out against the white pillow.

Hiro took a deep breath, and reached for Tadashi’s unbandaged hand. The warmth in those fingers gave Hiro more comfort than any food, blankets, or armour could provide. After today Hiro just needed to assure himself that Tadashi was still here after the nightmare that was finding out the identity of the man in the kabuki mask.

“I guess I was an idiot for wanting to go to nerd school, I bet they serve rat poison in the cafeteria too.”

“Hiro?” questioned Baymax.

“The reason I wanted to go to SFIT in the first place was because of Professor Callaghan,” said Hiro, feeling like he should be having this conversation with the patient than the nursing bot.

“But he is the one who stole your tiny robots and tried to hurt us earlier today.”

“Yeah Baymax, that’s why I’m saying I’m an idiot,” Hiro sighed. “I guess I just thought that someone so smart wouldn’t be able to be so stupid.”

But then, that applied to Tadashi and himself as well.

“Would you like to talk to Tadashi about it? Some of the researchers in comatose states believe that those in them can hear what goes on around them.”

“I just might Baymax, but it feels weird that he won’t respond.”

“It is normal to feel uncomfortable talking to beings that cannot respond, like cats or dogs, in a public area. However, since this is a hospital, you will most likely avoid embarrassment.”

Hiro smacked his face with his palm. Only Baymax would equate his comatose brother with a cat and not see what was wrong with that.

But then, talking to Tadashi might help a bit. At least if Tadashi could hear him then he would be less confused when he woke up.

“So it started when I found a microbot in my pocket…”

Hiro launched into the tale, complete with dramatic sweeping gestures as he recounted the warehouse tale. He downplayed the dramatic drive that ended in the bay, not wanting his brother to worry, even if Tadashi hearing him was just a slim chance. Hiro almost couldn’t tell him the newest adventure on the island, both for the sadness it would cause Tadashi to find out that his beloved Professor was really a comic book villain and for the guilt that was creeping into Hiro’s bones. Hiro stuttered and stopped several times, not knowing how to get the words out.

“… and once you wake up, you can join us. I even made a suit for you. It matches Baymax’s, since you’re the one who made him, you should be the one to fly with him, right? I also made it crazy useful for on the fly doctoring, because you’re too much of a worrywart. I dunno if the hero thing will continue once we catch Callaghan, but who knows? We’ve been having fun with it. Except Wasabi, He’s still nervous about the whole super suit thing.”

Hiro chuckled to himself, running a hand through his fluffy hair.

Outside the shadows were growing long, and Hiro decided that getting himself and Baymax home before Aunt Cass had the chance to worry about where he had gotten off too was a good idea.

With a stretch that threatened to send Hiro tumbling backwards off the chair he stood and walked to the door.

“Goodbye for now, Tadashi, I’ll be back soon. I promise,” said Hiro, turning in the doorway.

The ride back to The Lucky Cat was uneventful and quiet. Hiro spent the time planning how to sneak Baymax into the garage once again. Dusk was falling as they hopped off the cable car and made their way towards the café. Hiro managed to get in the garage without being seen, but in it was a surprise.

“Well, isn’t it time you showed up,” said GoGo, cracking her gum.

The whole team was there, thankfully changed out of their suits. Honey was perched on the edge of the computer desk while Fred lounged in the desk chair beside her. Wasabi was leaning on the gummy bear vending machine and GoGo, well, GoGo was standing dead center of the garage with her hands on her hips and murder in her eyes.

“H-Hi guys,” Hiro started and gulped. He knew what he had to say, but it was hard to speak when GoGo had her murder eyes trained on him.

“Guys, I’m really sorry. Sorry for what I did and for leaving you there,” Hiro said to the floor.

“No big, Heathcliff came and picked us up in the family chopper,” Fred waved it away from across the room.

“But Hiro, where were you?”

“Um, visiting Tadashi. I didn’t know who else to talk to and I–“

Hiro then found himself being practically crushed into GoGo as the girl hugged him.

“See guys, I told you, no reason to panic,” Wasabi’s voice floated over. Hiro couldn’t see beyond GoGo’s jacket.

“Man, you were the one panicking the most.”

“Was not.”

“Were too!”

“Boys can you please both be quiet!” GoGo said, releasing Hiro.

“So, is there a reason you’ve been hiding in my garage for hours?” asked Hiro.

The rest of them looked uncomfortable for a minute, before eyes turned to Fred. He looked confused, before jumping up and brandishing a thumb drive.

“We found something else on the computers there, you should look at it too.”

Hiro took it and plugged it into the computer. A familiar video started playing, and this time he didn’t miss one of the main characters. Callaghan’s daughter was the pilot. Callaghan needed the bots to hurt Krei. No wonder he’d been so passive aggressive to the businessman at the showcase.

“Guys, isn’t Krei Tech opening their new facility tomorrow?” asked Honey Lemon, already whipping out her phone to check.

“Uh oh.”

“Uh oh is right.”

They needed to come up with a plan, and fast.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like GoGo gives good hugs. I'd like a GoGo hug.
> 
> Since I don't have anything due for a week here's the next chapter! For a film project I've convinced a friend to go into the ocean for me! In the middle of January -in Canada. I feel so loved!


	11. Showdown

The next morning was beautiful. The sun rose in spectacular shades of pink and orange that lit up the San Fransokyo bay like liquid fire before settling high in a clear blue sky. Birds chirped in the trees and it was even uncharacteristically warm for fall. It should have been a perfect day.

As it was, Hiro and the gang were crouched on a rooftop looking down at Alistair Krei giving a boring speech in front of his shiny new building. The man was gesturing with a glass of champagne, looking pleased as pie as he told reporters that they were going to do “amazing work” here. As long as restarting project Silent Sparrow wasn’t on the list of amazing work Hiro really couldn’t care less about what Krei was going to do in his fancy building.

For a while it looked like the bright day was mirroring their good fortune. Callaghan hadn’t shown his face and Krei was nearly done his speech. But right as Hiro was starting to relax a shadow fell over Krei and the reporters. A soft whooshing sound filled the air as Hiro looked up to see microbots climbing over the roof and slotting into place overhead. Below, reporters screamed and fled the immediate area. Krei was right behind them until a stream of microbots stopped him in his tracks.

Beside Hiro, Honey Lemon gasped as Krei was lifted into the air, the microbots tightening and crumpling his blue suit and no doubt leaving bruises. Hiro motioned for the gang to stay put. Callaghan hadn’t shown his face yet and Hiro wanted to have the advantage of surprise this time.

It didn’t take long for Callaghan to come surfing up on his stolen microbots to threaten Krei face to face. He moved with more agility than Hiro thought someone of his age could have as he leapt about with the help of his microbots, though the coat probably added more than half of the dramatic effect. Hiro observed for a moment before noticing Callaghan pointing skyward. Looking up Hiro felt his stomach drop into his magnetic shoes –the undamaged portal from Silent Sparrow was being assembled over the new KreiTech building.

“Guys, I think we want to do this as fast as possible,” said Hiro, bringing the rest of the team’s attention to the portal.

“What! So that’s what he was doing on the island,” observed Wasabi.

“Let’s go already!”

As one, they headed towards the madman and the microbots.

The only thing that could be said for their initial attack was that Krei got out of the way. Overhead the portal was whirring and sucking in stray microbots, while below the team was outmatched by the sheer number of microbots.

 Hiro honestly didn’t know what the rest of the team were up to while he and Baymax soared at Callaghan. He couldn’t keep track of what was happening, not even with himself. As he approached Callaghan he found himself separating from Baymax and soaring through the air alone. Wasn’t that just perfect. Hiro instinctively curled into a ball, and a half a second later crashed through a window of the KreiTech building. Hiro rolled on landing, glass crunching beneath his armour, though leaving thin cuts on his legs. Sitting up with a hiss of pain Hiro reached for the ribbons slashed into his calves. Above, the building gave an ominous crack followed by a groan. Looking up Hiro saw a deep crack run through the ceiling before the odd sensation of his stomach floating downwards hit him. Then all too quickly Hiro was zooming upwards and the ceiling was crumbling and floating up with him. Glass and concrete and office equipment flew up towards the portal’s pull with Hiro.

Hiro’s mind was running in overdrive, looking for anything that could stop his free fall –free flight?- into the portal. There! A loose wire was waving up at the portal, but still anchored to some part of the building. Hiro reached and just grasped it by the tip of his gloved fingers. There was a tight jerk in his shoulder but his grip held. From this vantage dangling under the portal Hiro could finally see what his friends were doing down there, and it wasn’t exactly reassuring.

Honey Lemon had created some sort of orange dome to hide in, though it was being pierced by a stream of microbots. Wasabi was up on a roof, holding off two waves of microbots from squishing him flat. Fred was being pulled apart, and though he couldn’t see GoGo, Hiro suspected she was trapped in the bubble of microbots to the right of Honey Lemon. Looking down on the scene from above Callaghan was simply observing all that was happening.

Hiro had to tell them to do something, they were all geniuses for God’s sake, how could they not beat one guy using one of Hiro’s inventions. Then a flutter of microbots flew by Hiro’s helmet, one knocking against the side of it. Right, he had installed communication devices in the helmets.

“Guys! Use those big brains of yours and look for another angle!” Hiro yelled, hoping to spur them into action and get them moving. Below Hiro spotted Baymax maneuvering himself out of a pile of debris.

“If you aim for the microbots they’ll fly straight into the portal,” Hiro added as the Baymax began to fly up towards him.

As Hiro watched Baymax’s ascent he took his eyes off the rising debris. One second after he focused on Baymax, one measly second, and a piece of the building flew up and hit his arm. The shock of it made Hiro release the cable, free falling once again towards the portal. His arm was on fire! Numb heat radiated out from the middle of his upper arm, spreading to his shoulder and elbow. Suddenly a weight slammed into Hiro’s side. Thick armoured arms curled around him and Hiro looked up into Baymax’s expressionless face.

“You appear to be injured. Shall I land in order to tend to your injuries?”

Pain shot through Hiro’s arm. Yes he would like something to be done about that, but they still had a job to do. Callaghan wasn’t going to stop destroying San Fransokyo just because a 14 year old was hurt. Especially a 14 year old that was trying to stop him.

“No, just let me get in place up there and let’s go get him!”

Hiro scrambled up and over Baymax’s shoulder, trying as hard as he could not to use his left arm. Once feet and hands were attached to their proper magnets Baymax rocketed off at Callaghan. They zipped and weaved, down below the rest of the team had done their job, the microbot streams becoming thinner every time. Finally they flew to a stop with Baymax’s fist inches away from Callaghan’s face.

And with one move from Baymax it was over. The mask crumbled easily between the armoured fingers and the pieces rained down with the microbots. Without their support, Callaghan began to fall as well.

Hiro let Baymax swoop down to catch him. After all, would Tadashi really want him to be a killer? No. But Tadashi also wouldn’t have wanted him to take up vigilantism in his spare time either. Well, what Tadashi didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. On the vigilante part anyway. Hiro didn’t know if he had the stomach for killing anymore.

Baymax landed smoothly, depositing Callaghan roughly on the ground and allowing Hiro to crawl off without injuring himself further. Holding his arm close to his side Hiro looked around. GoGo and Honey had scratched the paint on their armour but were otherwise ok, Fred was rubbing at his arms, and Wasabi was covered in dust and rubble. It had been an interesting and tough fight for all of them, and Hiro felt his heart swell with gratitude that his friends were there with him. Wasabi grabbed ahold of Callaghan and Fred took up the other side to frog march him out of the rubble.

Behind them, the portal roared as it began to tear itself apart.

Hiro followed his friends, intent on getting away from the portal as soon as possible, but stopped when he could no longer feel the presence of his inflatable friend nearby. Hiro turned to see Baymax staring off at the portal.

“Baymax, buddy, we gotta get out of here,” said Hiro, tugging on Baymax’s arm.

“My scanners are detecting signs of life,” replied the robot.

Hiro’s heart beat double time. Someone could have been in the building and could have been buried in the rubble.

“They are coming from in there,” continued Baymax, pointing at the portal.

Oh. That could only mean one thing.

“Alright buddy, let’s go get her.”

At that point the others had noticed that Hiro and Baymax were no longer with them and had turned to catch the last exchange.

“Hiro, no!”

“It’s too dangerous.”

Hiro now knew what Tadashi was feeling when he ran into the burning exhibition hall. The fear, the hope, the certainty that he had to do something.

“Someone has to help.”

He carefully climbed back aboard Baymax, cautious of his throbbing arm, and together they flew a graceful loop before vanishing into the blue depths of the portal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry it took so long. So so sorry.  
> BUT in the meantime I have been to a con, had my 21st birthday, cried a lot, and filmed with professional equipment. 
> 
> hopefully the next chapter wont take quite as long......


End file.
